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WILKES-BARRE — The playoffs are only six games old for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and already rookie winger Anton Zlobin has himself quite a highlight reel.

There was the overtime winner in the playoff opener against Binghamton, a nifty play where he picked up the puck on the left half-wall, darted to the middle of the ice and beat the goalie clean.

There was the memorable backcheck in overtime of Game 2, where he hustled up the ice and lifted the stick of B-Sens winger Cole Schneider just as he tried to take a shot from the left wing that might have ended the game.

And then there was Game 2 against Providence Bruins last Saturday, where he buried two shots from the left faceoff circle and added an assist in a 6-1 Penguins win.

There’s little doubt Zlobin is playing the best hockey of his short pro career as the best-of-seven series, which is tied 1-1, heads to Providence for Game 3 tonight.

“It’s important for me to play better in the playoffs,” Zlobin said. “You want to win the Calder Cup. You want to do the best things.”

The biggest postseason highlight of Zlobin’s career so far came in junior hockey. He scored two goals, including the overtime winner, as Shawinigan beat London 2-1 in the 2012 Memorial Cup finals.

Add that to what he’s done for the Penguins so far this spring, and he’s beginning to earn a reputation as a clutch performer.

“When it starts to get into these situations where it’s high-intensity, he’s showing he’s a player that can elevate his game,” coach John Hynes said. “His high-end skill set, which is goal scoring, comes out in those situations.”

His regular-season offensive numbers — eight goals and 19 points in 46 games — weren’t exactly jaw-dropping, so Zlobin looked on video for ways he could improve.

He found one.

“I’ve started shooting more,” Zlobin said. “I didn’t shoot much during the season. That’s what I figured out during the season. I need to shoot more. If I shoot more, I’m going to score more.”

While the Penguins figured Zlobin would start putting up numbers eventually due to his stellar junior-hockey track record, they weren’t sure what kind of two-way player he would be. Frankly, Zlobin wasn’t asked to do much defensively in juniors.

He has exceeded expectations in that area. He hasn’t been on the ice for a single goal against in the playoffs and his plus-15 rating in the regular season was the second-best for a rookie forward in the history of the franchise, trailing only Keven Veilleux’s plus-17 in 2010-11.

“He’s played a real good two-way game, so you can play him in these tight situations,” Hynes said. “He’s built that up over the course of the year.”

By mixing strong two-way play with some big goals, the 21-year-old Zlobin, a sixth-round pick in the 2012 NHL draft, is a prospect on the rise. Pittsburgh has been looking for homegrown top-six forwards for years now, and Zlobin is showing signs he might someday fit the bill.

“He’s improved so much this year. Now we’re starting to see the rewards,” Hynes said. “When they drafted him, that was the scouting report. He’s going to need some direction, but he’s a guy that can score big goals at big times. He’s delivering on what he was advertised to be.”

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